Monday 2 December 2019

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Toon Realms" December 2019

"Lucid Eye Publications" WIPs - Twelve of their skeletons are currently being dry-brushed and pigmented
Along with sixty-seven other participants I currently plan to use the first three weeks of this month prepping and priming all manner of miniatures so as to have them 'match ready' for the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC). However, as per last year I am also determined to vastly reduce my mountain of models over the next four months by specifically targeting all the figures I currently own which have previously received the odd lick of paint or two in an entirely separate personal challenge too.

As a result, I have plucked my incomplete horde of Skeleton Swordsmen and Lord Rascal's Skeleton Warriors by "Lucid Eye Publications" from their somewhat cobwebbed hobby drawer, with the intention of completing the half-finished Undead army for my Partially-Painted Pledge. In addition, these bony fighters will also make a nice entry as part of Phil Curran's "Deadcember" over on his excellent "Dizbusters Gaming Ephemera" blog.
"Modiphius Entertainment" WIPs - These Romulan Centurions are now ready for their details to be 'picked out'
I've actually found returning to these dozen "cartoon scale white metal" figures a little daunting at first, as, after several months of inactivity, it took me a couple of attempts to properly replicate their 'bleached bone' palette of "Vallejo" Dark Sand, "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and "Vallejo" White. Fortunately, I think I have it down to 'a fine art' once again, and am now quickly progressing through their ranks with a twenty-four strong table-top ready army of Lord Rascal's Undead finest in my sights... 

Also earmarked for completion before the AHPC begins on the 21st December 2019, are the four remaining Romulan Centurions by "Modiphius Entertainment" I have left over from the company's "Star Trek Adventures" Strike Team boxed set. I'm hoping my (secondary and perhaps overly optimistic) plan to not actually purchase any more miniatures until "Salute" 2020, should mean I can crack on through my significant collection of these 32mm scale resin models, and actually enter those currently still 'sat in their box' untouched for the AHPC itself.
November 2019 - "Black Tree Design" continues to prove very popular despite its significant postal delays
Productivity wise, the past four weeks have proved to be my busiest November by far, and resultantly I have my sights firmly locked on beating my best annual painting tally ever of 1,136 points (approximately 227 x 28mm figures). Much of the month's success was down to an overwhelming compulsion to pigment many more superhero related models, whether they simply be "Wizkids" re-paints taken from their "Heroclix" range, or the larger scale resin figures produced by "Knight Models" for their Teen Titans Bat-box.

Indeed, this comic book bug will at least carry on until the end of the year, courtesy of both the AHPC and my Partially-Painted Pledge, as I have so many "Marvel Worldwide" and "DC Comics" characters already lined up as potential entries for both events. However, looking back at November's achievement, I must also give a nod to “Modiphius Entertainment” and their Borg Collective boxed set, whose excellent sculpts inspired me to finally finish the last five drones I had originally planned to submit for “Zomtober” 2019.

18 comments:

  1. Nice work on the skeleton Simon, I plan on something a little fleshier for my entry. Nice to see the Romulans back on desk. Hope the prep work is going well for the competition

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    1. Thanks Dave. Hopefully I can get the Skeletons finished over the next few days and cause a big hole in my waiting queue as a result. The AHPC prep is going well I think, I've a load of "Heroclix" ready for the start, and just been working out my route across its Treasure Island so as to reach Curt's X Marks The Spot :-)

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  2. Loving those skeletons Simon, fabulous fun.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Hard to believe its been almost a year since I did the first dozen :-o

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  3. I don;t know why, ut I do like all the 'Toon' sculpts you've shown over the year and it'll be great to see whole foce of these skellies in particular.
    i like the Romulan sculps too, good poses and a lot of character (though I seem to recollect the last ones were a bit meh)

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    1. Thanks very much Joe. The "Toon Realms" stuff really had their big break during last year's AHPC, so it'll be nice to bookend the past twelve months with some more minis. Hopefully the Romulans won't be too far behind either :-)

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  4. I like the Romulans, they are taking shape nicely.

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    1. Cheers Phil. Hope to get them finished soon.

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  5. I do like those Toon skellies. I wish you the best of luck with the painting challenge.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. Hopefully I can get a load of partially-painted minis done first, so there's some space for some of my newer projects.

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  6. Nice progress on everything Simon. I am trying todo something similar over here.

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    1. Cheers Simon. Every year I try and do this, and to be honest fail quite miserably within a week, LOL!! But this year I'm more determined than ever, and hope to finish off some serious chunks of projects which have been lying around for months, if not years. Good luck with your endeavour too!!

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  7. That's a lot of stuff done in one month Simon. Bravo! Really liking the charm of those skeleton sculpts.

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    1. Thanks Dai. Hopefully I can get some of the Skellies posted up later this week.

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  8. The skeletons look really nice, the paint scheme looks great. Glad to see those Romulans as the previous ones looked very good indeed. A very good aspiration to have to finish uncompleted projects, so good luck with that. Is four months long enough?

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I doubt four years of no purchases would be long enough tbh. But I'm four months will give me a chance to at least crack on with a few ranges, and then take it from there.

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  9. These skeletons are great, a bit cartoony/cute and that's exactly what I like. They look a bit like the larger version of my 15mm models

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    1. That's a great way of describing many of the "Toon Realms" sculpts, Wouter :-)

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